6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.3 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A robotics engineer at a toy company builds a lifelike doll that begins to take on a life of its own.
Starring: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, Amie Donald, Jenna DavisHorror | 100% |
Thriller | 7% |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
French (Canada): DTS 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
In the "old days" of movies, stories about A.I. run amok were largely impersonal. Think The Terminator and its larger backstory about Skynet, the artificial intelligence that assumed control over military action and decided to start a nuclear World War III, kill the majority of mankind, and wage war against the remaining remnants. Now, with such radical advances in artificial intelligence, the scares grow more personal in M3GAN, Director Gerard Johnstone's (Housebound) film about a sentient doll that takes its tasks of protecting a little girl from harm a bit too literally. The film delves more into superficial rather than deep commentary on artificial intelligence and its relationship to flesh-and-blood humanity, but it offers sufficient narrative depth to make an otherwise familiar Slasher structure feel more novel than it really is.
Universal releases M3GAN to Blu-ray with a fine looking 1080p transfer. The image enjoys bountiful clarity and razor-sharp definition to various elements throughout the film, including, of course, the doll's facial features, which are eerily lifelike though lacking that finest human skin subtlety, and its hair, which is sharp and identifiable practically to the individual strand. Of course, human faces are equally appealing for clarity and definition, while various location details, whether inside homes or out in nature, revel exquisite clarity and robust definition. Colors are satisfying within the film's fairly neutral color timing and palette that never veers off course towards warmth or coolness. Whites are notably intense and true in the "testing" area where Cady interacts with Megan for David and the company in a few scenes. Black levels depth is rock-solid, too, especially at night. Skin tones look true. Noise is but a minimal disturbance and there are no obvious encode issues to report. This is a very nice-looking image from Universal.
M3GAN slashes onto Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack. The presentation is well balanced, offering both subtle atmospherics and hushed dialogue as well as deep and penetrating action-type elements with equal clarity and definition. The track takes full advantage of the stage environment, utilizing every speaker for spacious music, ambience, and hard-hitting action, especially when all of those elements converge in various scenes depicting M3GAN slashing her way through those she deems a target for her destructive energy. Surrounds and subwoofer utilization are always very high when necessary, but the track is also equally efficient when making use of those same components to produce gentle, immersive audio subtleties that draw the listener into more serene environments. Clarity to all such content is fantastic. Dialogue is clear and robust with firm and natural front-center positioning throughout.
This Blu-ray release of M3GAN contains three featurettes. A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with
purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover. This release also includes two cuts of the film: Theatrical (1:41:56) and Unrated (1:41:50).
M3GAN finds some value in exploring the personalized dangers of A.I. in the home run amok. The film feels eerily plausible in 2023 given the radical advances in the world or synthetic life, but of course the film tailors the story and the dangers to build a Slasher film. The picture does a good job of toeing the line between thoughtful commentary and brainless entertainment, but it's ultimately better suited to an experience favoring the latter. Universal's Blu-ray is solid. The video and audio presentations are fine, but the supplements are thin. Recommended, especially to Slasher genre fans.
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